Sleep school focussed on getting him to sleep, they never mentioned anything about my bedtime routine. Ill try & shorten it a bit. But he seriously only has a 5 minute book & a 5-10 minute bath. Feeds take ages cause he's constantly distracted, pulling off to look around, i think that is where the time is going.

I never had a book / bath / bed routine at that age. I used to bath during the day (sometimes to pass the time or get through a bit of a whingy period). At bedtime I used to just feed and pop straight into the cot. Having a bath was not a relaxing, wind down time for either of my children, instead they would kick around and laugh.

Try VicParks suggested routine above but fit the book and bath in somewhere else during the day.

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Sleep school update

I agree with VPs sleep and awake times and think you should still stick with your bedtime routine, especially since nights aren't usually bad for you. It's important to have wind down time and sleep cues. Our routine was a bit like this at that age:

Wake between 6-7am and breastfeed.

Breakfast about an hour after breastfeed, usually around 7.30/8 (usually porridge with fruit and toast)

Morning sleep 2-2.5 hours after waking, usually around 8.30 or 9/9.30. Would try to push him to 2.5 hours awake but sometimes in the mornings he could only last 2 hours.

Wake around 10.30/11 and breastfeed again. Try to get out for a walk or scheduled activity (music class, swim lessons, etc) or swing.

Lunch about 1 hour after breastfeed (some type of casserole with meat/veg/carb and fruit)

Sleep 2.5 hours after waking last, usually around 1pm. Do what I can to get him to sleep over an hour (if he wakes too soon), even if that meant lying with him.

Up around 3 (sometimes 2.30, sometimes 4pm). Breastfeed. Try to get out for a walk/swing/library/scheduled activity, etc

Dinner around 5pm (some type of casserole type thing with protein/veg/carb and then Greek yogurt with fruit added for dessert)

Bath around 5.30 and get dressed

One breastfeed

Two stories (usually a 'that's not my...' Book and then something like Goodnight Moon)

Offer other breast and go to sleep.

If he fusses when I lie him down (for any sleep) I cuddle/rock (sitting in a chair or on bed) in the dark until I can tell he's dozey and lie him down in his cot gently keeping my hands on him until I can tell he's definitely asleep. He usually hates patting. Sneak out quietly.

Eta: the meals were once he was interested in solids. He wasn't really interested until around 7 months but I just kept offering and trying and then he took off and was obsessed so it went quickly after that.

Sleep school focussed on getting him to sleep, they never mentioned anything about my bedtime routine. Ill try & shorten it a bit. But he seriously only has a 5 minute book & a 5-10 minute bath. Feeds take ages cause he's constantly distracted, pulling off to look around, i think that is where the time is going.

To me that sounds perfect.
I have always done bath at night, it's a good wind down cue even if he plays in the bath. It's relaxing.
Then quiet dressing in PJ time followed by 5min cuddles/book.

The first two day sleeps are going much better, settles himself with no help from me. I agree with you ladies that he is dropping his 3rd sleep, so we only tried for two today & it was much better. Just have to work on adjusting awake times so the sleeps are more spread across the day, cause at the moment he has a huge stint awake in the afternoons.

Evenings can be challenging sometimes, however he settled fairly well tonight after quite a while awake.

How long are you spending trying to settle him into his second nap? Are you allowing him to self settle like you said he'd learned to do or are you rocking him to sleep? How long is your awake time between the two naps or are you just going by tired signs?

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